Millions can play GTA 6 early with simple PS5 and Xbox trick

A hack may enable eager fans of the upcoming GTA 6 to play the game early.

It's one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year, with fans of the iconic Grand Theft Auto series finally coming to the end of their years-long wait for the next instalment in the main series of the games.

The series is known for its incredibly detailed open world gameplay allowing players to freely explore the setting, and the latest instalment has promised to take this to the next level with an enormous new map.

This time, the game will be released in a staggered way at different locations around the globe, with short intervals between the game going live in each new location.

It will begin in New Zealand at 11am UTC on 18 November, before moving around the globe until it finishes with Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador at 6am UTC on 19 November, with the UK coming in at 12am UTC on 19 November.

This effectively means that it will be dropping at midnight local time around the world, like new year's eve for gamers.

That means for UK players there is a gap of just over 12 hours between the game dropping in New Zealand and dropping in the UK, and if the prospect of another 12 hours is just too much then you can use this to get in there when the game first drops in New Zealand.

The precise ways to go about this hack vary depending on whether you are playing on an Xbox or a Playstation, but the essential principle is the same - you're making the system think that you're in New Zealand so that when the game is released you're part of the early group of people who can play it first.

On a Playstation this involves creating a whole new account on the Playstation network and selecting the location as 'New Zealand', before purchasing and downloading GTA 6 from the New Zealand online store.

You then go into the settings on the device and enable console sharing and offline play, before going back to your main account and launching the game.

Xbox users have a slightly less longwinded way to go about it, instead going into the location settings on their device changing it to New Zealand before restarting the console and launching the game.

Of course, if you're really, really committed you could just move to New Zealand.

Gamers will be able to preload the game onto their consoles a week earlier, with preload opening from 12 November.

Rockstar confirmed: "Digital pre-loading on PlayStation 5 will begin on Tuesday, November 10 at midnight local time in your respective time zone. On XBOX Series X|S, pre-loading begins globally on Tuesday, November 10 at 12 a.m. GMT. Code-in-box versions for both consoles should be available from retailers beginning November 12."

And if you're planning on playing it, then you may want to free up some space on your console as it's a whopper of a file size.

"The pre-load file will require up to 212 GB depending on your device, so make sure you've got ample space to begin pre-loading as soon as possible," said Rockstar.

Where to pre-order GTA6

Ahead of the November 19 launch date, you can pre-order GTA6 for £69.99 for the standard edition or £89.99 for the premium version. Across the Atlantic, it will be $79.99 for the standard game and a whopping $100 for the premium version.

PLAYSTATION PRE-ORDER: Playstation UK | GAME UK | Amazon UK | Currys UK | Amazon US | Walmart

XBOX PRE-ORDER: GAME UK | Amazon UK | Currys UK | Amazon US | Walmart | Loaded